Destinations tap data to lure visitors amid travel comeback

Destination marketers have long depended on data to target potential visitors, but they now have a heightened need for information as they seek to tap into the global travel recovery. Data companies are coming up with ways to enhance their data reporting to helping destination marketing organizations achieve their goals.

DMOs have access to more data sources and more granular detail than they’ve ever had before, which is “a blessing and a challenge,” says Zeek Coleman, vice president for the Americas at Tourism Economics.

“By integrating data sources in a single data warehouse with efficient processing and reporting, DMOs can achieve incredible things on both the advocacy and strategy fronts,” he says.

Tourism Economics’ clients are combining mobile geolocation data, industry performance, sales data, forecasts and marketing key performance indicators (KPIs). These indicators paint a picture of visitor behavior and DMO effectiveness and help them “maximize the ROI [return on investment] of everyday decisions,” explains Coleman.

The Tourism Economics Symphony platform, which launched nearly three years ago, integrates all Tourism Economics data with internal DMO data, vendor intelligence, partner data and government data “within a single data warehouse for efficient processing and easy reporting to partners,” according to Coleman.

“This year, we added half a dozen new data partners to Symphony, and we have some exciting new partnerships in the wings for 2023 that will provide more insights on traveler intentions, visitor spending and destination competitive sets,” he says.

Peter Cranis, executive director at the Space Coast Office of Tourism in Florida, says: “All through the pandemic and now it has been critically important to have as much information as possible to make business decisions and have an understanding of the marketplace.”

Cranis’ office relies on at least eight data services “to measure and track performance, as well as to make marketing decisions.”

“We certainly are paying attention to national and international data, but ultimately it is local data regarding the tourism business that we are most interested in,” he says. “Forecasts for our county have continued to show positive results for tourism.”

For 2023, the Space Coast Office of Tourism is “looking at contracting some specific primary research to understand specific market segments such as cruise passengers, business travelers and international travelers,” Cranis adds.

Data integration

Sojern launched a “self-service dashboard” about a month ago, and it is currently helping clients understand how to use it, says Richard Black, the company’s vice president of destinations.

The dashboard shows, for example, when people are looking to come to a destination and whether they are just searching or also interested in booking.

“We’re adding additional information to it all the time, because it’s something where we’re trying to get as much client feedback as we possibly can, because we want to continually iterate on this,” Black says.

Sojern helps DMOs look beyond visitors’ demographics and location to the kind of trip they want to take. For example, if Panama City, Florida gets lots of visitors from Atlanta, Panama City’s DMO can home in on people in Atlanta who “are showing specific intent to come to the Panhandle or come to a Florida destination,” Black explains.

You’re aligning the right message to the right person in the right moment.

Richard Black - Sojern

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By putting an ad in front of someone who is not considering a beach vacation, Black says, “you’re wasting time, money, effort and energy.”

“And that’s where we make the difference,” he says. “A marketer’s role is … all about, ‘How do I reach people in the moments that matter?’ Data allows you a shortcut in being able to do that.”

Sojern has roughly 100 data partners globally, including airlines, hoteliers, OTAs and metasearch sites. Black says the company collects billions of data intent signals on a regular basis, determines where somebody is within that path to purchase, then asks, “Who do we want to send a message to, and what message should be sent to them?”

Once someone has a trip confirmed – through a hotel reservation or plane ticket purchase – that’s when Sojern starts to serve its attraction partners “in a really big way.”

“Broadway is a great example that not only do we know that people are confirmed to travel to New York City, we know when they’re going to be there,” Black says.

And Bermuda, for example, began marketing to New York City residents who were spending three to five hours trying to get to the Hamptons by car.

“You could literally be in Bermuda in the same time it took sitting in a car trying to get out to the Hamptons,” Black says. “So people are using data in a really unique way and to their advantage.

Sojern is also building out “data consortiums” that marry Sojern data with destinations’ data.

For example, Cleveland’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, sports venues, hotels and other attractions could share their data, such as a database of people who’ve made a booking in the past year or who are loyalty members.

But competitors, such as two hoteliers that are across town from each other, likely will not want to share their data with each another. “So we block that off. We gate that,” says Black.

Destination insights

In 2020, Google unveiled Travel Insights with Google, which includes Destination Insights for travel businesses, governments and tourism boards and expanded it into the United States in 2021.

“We launched Destination Insights because the pandemic’s impact on travel made it difficult for destinations to rely on historical data, and we believe this tool continues to be relevant as conditions evolve,” says Gianni Marostica, managing director of travel partnerships at Google.

Marostica says that Destination Insights helps destinations answer questions such as:

• How have searches for flights or accommodations related to my destination changed over time?
• What are the top and trending sources of demand based on geography?
• How do a specific set of countries compare in terms of demand for visiting my destination?

“Using this information, destination marketers can make better decisions about where and when to deploy their resources,” says Marostica. “For example, they might decide that their campaigns should be focused on reaching travelers in specific countries or regions, or during specific times of year.”

“At the aggregate, anonymized level, [people’s] search patterns can provide an invaluable tool for DMOs and tourism boards,” adds Marostica.

The company announced in September that Google Search will be evolving to show more visual and engaging content for a number of topics, including city or destination queries. For example, people may see visual stories and short videos from people who have visited, tips on how to explore the city, things to do and how to get there, according to the company.